The BBC has launched a public consultation over Project Canvass, a system which would allow viewers to watch catch-up content from the iPlayer service on their televisions.

This IPTV idea was announced by the BBC Trust and will aim to provide BBC content now only available online to a wider audience.

Licence fee payers would be able to access the service through a set-top box, connected to broadband internet, from which they would have a choice of repeated television programmes.

"The Trust has challenged the BBC Executive to come up with proposals to help bring the benefits of the BBC’s public investment to the whole PSB sector," said BBC Trustee, Diane Coyle.

"This is the first of these proposals to come forward to the Trust and we will be scrutinising it to ensure the best possible outcome for licence fee payers."

It has been suggested that other public service bodies, such as the NHS or DirectGov, would be able to show video clips via the service.